Applying: Bellarmine University, Chatham University, Youngstown State University, Marshall University, Mount St. Joseph University, Western Kentucky University, University of Pittsburgh, University of Kentucky
Interviews: Bellarmine University (11/3) Chatham University (11/11) Mount St. Joseph University (11/17) Marshall University (1/4) Western Kentucky University (2/9-declined), University of Kentucky (3/2)
Acceptances: Chatham University (11/22-declined) Mount St. Joseph University (11/28-declined) Youngstown State University (12/6) Marshall University (1/27)
Hold/Wait List: Bellarmine University (11/10) University of Pittsburgh (1/31)
Rejections: N/A

You don’t wanna go here. If you want to be a good clinician and learn from professors who actually care about your success, rather than deal with catty drama from those looking to tear you down, go anywhere else.

Extra-Curricular:
- Pre-PT club, I expect to be elected as an officer in May for the next school year
- Teacher Assistant for A&P I&II labs
- Honors Program, so I will graduate with an honors designation
- Selected for the Presidential Scholarship at UNI
- Co-founded a group that did a service project in which we fundraised and did a book drive for elementary students in a nearby low-income school district

Notable:
- Completed a large-scale biomechanics project doing a kinematic analysis over dysfunctional gait
- Will be completing a thesis with a professor next school year

Work:
- 2 jobs as a therapy aide - I currently have 379 hours and that will increase by the time I submit my application:
1. Hospital that has outpatient (including pediatric) and inpatient (acute and subacute/neurological) settings
2. Private practice outpatient clinic

LOR: 1 PT, 1 PT/boss from hospital aide job, 1 professor from major, and 1 professor that I TA for

Will probably apply to: University of Iowa, St. Ambrose University, Des Moines University, Bradley University, Washington University (in St. Louis), Mayo Clinic, Creighton University, Nebraska Medical Center, University of Missouri, University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Hampton University, Belmont University, and Tennessee State University

Hi everybody! I am currently a junior, so I'll be applying for PT school this summer. I'm hoping to receive some feedback about my credentials and what I could do to improve them. The main reason for my concern is because I think my pre-req GPA is low. If anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them. Additionally, if anyone knows how my application my look to some of the specific schools I listed that would be very appreciated.

Extra-Curricular:
- Pre-PT club, I expect to be elected as an officer in May for the next school year
- Teacher Assistant for A&P I&II labs
- Honors Program, so I will graduate with an honors designation
- Selected for the Presidential Scholarship at UNI
- Co-founded a group that did a service project in which we fundraised and did a book drive for elementary students in a nearby low-income school district

Notable:
- Completed a large-scale biomechanics project doing a kinematic analysis over dysfunctional gait
- Will be completing a thesis with a professor next school year

Work:
- 2 jobs as a therapy aide - I currently have 379 hours and that will increase by the time I submit my application:
1. Hospital that has outpatient (including pediatric) and inpatient (acute and subacute/neurological) settings
2. Private practice outpatient clinic

LOR: 1 PT, 1 PT/boss from hospital aide job, 1 professor from major, and 1 professor that I TA for

Will probably apply to: University of Iowa, St. Ambrose University, Des Moines University, Bradley University, Washington University (in St. Louis), Mayo Clinic, Creighton University, Nebraska Medical Center, University of Missouri, University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Hampton University, Belmont University, and Tennessee State University

Hi everybody! I am currently a junior, so I'll be applying for PT school this summer. I'm hoping to receive some feedback about my credentials and what I could do to improve them. The main reason for my concern is because I think my pre-req GPA is low. If anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them. Additionally, if anyone knows how my application my look to some of the specific schools I listed that would be very appreciated.

I wouldn't necessarily say your pre-req GPA is low, but definitely average. Your GRE, cGPA, and hours are all strong so I wouldn't worry about it. You still have another year of undergrad so focus on getting all A's and maybe retake a pre-req you got a lower grade in, but to be honest, I think you will be fine and get into most of the schools you're applying to! Good luck!

Extra-Curricular:
- Pre-PT club, I expect to be elected as an officer in May for the next school year
- Teacher Assistant for A&P I&II labs
- Honors Program, so I will graduate with an honors designation
- Selected for the Presidential Scholarship at UNI
- Co-founded a group that did a service project in which we fundraised and did a book drive for elementary students in a nearby low-income school district

Notable:
- Completed a large-scale biomechanics project doing a kinematic analysis over dysfunctional gait
- Will be completing a thesis with a professor next school year

Work:
- 2 jobs as a therapy aide - I currently have 379 hours and that will increase by the time I submit my application:
1. Hospital that has outpatient (including pediatric) and inpatient (acute and subacute/neurological) settings
2. Private practice outpatient clinic

LOR: 1 PT, 1 PT/boss from hospital aide job, 1 professor from major, and 1 professor that I TA for

Will probably apply to: University of Iowa, St. Ambrose University, Des Moines University, Bradley University, Washington University (in St. Louis), Mayo Clinic, Creighton University, Nebraska Medical Center, University of Missouri, University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Hampton University, Belmont University, and Tennessee State University

Hi everybody! I am currently a junior, so I'll be applying for PT school this summer. I'm hoping to receive some feedback about my credentials and what I could do to improve them. The main reason for my concern is because I think my pre-req GPA is low. If anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them. Additionally, if anyone knows how my application my look to some of the specific schools I listed that would be very appreciated.

I have pretty comparable stats to yours and also applied to about the same amount of schools. My advice to you is if you are trying to save money don't apply to that many - you will probably get into most of them! The application fees start adding up really quick and with sending GRE's you could end up spending $1000+. I would over research every school and make sure you REALLY want to apply there. It gets pricey and overwhelming real quick...

When I first checked this thread back in November 2017, while applying to PT programs, I was absolutely horrified. After reading post after post of people getting into DPT programs with 3.6-3.9 GPAs, I almost gave up in the middle of my applications. It was very demoralizing but I am glad to have stuck with my decision to keep applying. I want to share my experience with others who may have similar GPAs to mine and have seriously doubted their "chances" to get in. This was my first time applying to PT school and I was absolutely shocked by the results. If you have a low GPA but PT is really your dream, don't give up without at least trying it once.

Thank you for that. We have similar stats as I played basketball during Undergrad. I will have separated from Active Duty AF after 6 years as I am beginning to place applications. Do you think military service will have any weight as schools look through applications? Thanks

I was told by my Marymount u interview that my personal statement was really good. It really depends on what kinda prompt you get to best fit your personality and experiences you can write, but make sure you write down your true passion and motivation to be a PT. I have a lot of passion to become one even if I have zero experience consulting a PT for personal injuries/needs. And it’s not like I’m really good at writing nor have the best vocab to woo the readers but I overflowed the essay with all of me and what I could add to the program and the profession should I be admitted.

I also knew all of my letters of rec providers really well and I think it’s important that they really like you and trust that you will make a PT.

Especially since both my gpa and my GRE scores aren’t at all that competitive, I can only imagine that I’ve gotten acceptances and waitlists through my essays and letters of rec.

I also e-submitted with necessary/sufficient materials sent to schools and ptcas as of mid July, and the cycle opens beginning of July or late June. Every admin folks of schools will tell you to APPLY EARLY. I think that also has helped me.

Employment: Various part-time jobs throughout undergrad (valet, cabana boy, etc), worked as an exercise tech part-time the summer of applying for PT schools, currently completing a full-time internship (minimum 520 hours) as an exercise tech at the same place I worked at over the summer (HIGHLY RECOMMEND WORKING AS A TECH IF YOU CAN BEFORE PT SCHOOL)

I just interviewed with USA, so depending on how that went I will be deciding between USA and FAMU. I am leaning FAMU because it is closer to home and half the cost of USA, but I really like how USA places an emphasis on manual therapy and preparing the best clinicians as opposed to other programs that are research-based...but that 120K+ cost of attendance (yikes)

I have not heard anything from FGCU or Gannon so I am assuming rejections...

I was very discouraged through the entire process with having a low pre-req GPA and GRE scores, but that first acceptance made it all worth it! The only regret I have is applying to too many programs out of nervousness because I did not pay attention to the program start dates and assumed they all started in the fall, but ADU and Nova started one day and one week after I would graduate from UF in the summer and jumping into PT school that quick is not something I was comfortable with. I also did not finish my applications until October which also probably hurt me.

Also, PT programs DO NOT care where you completed your degree/pre-reqs. I struggled with my pre-reqs at UF because they made the classes way harder than they needed to be, so do not feel you are at a disadvantage if you take your classes at a JUCO (I kind of wish I would've my GPA would have been a lot higher and I might have gotten into my top choices...but everything happens for a reason!)

I didn't do any follow up emails. At the end of the interview, they told us to not contact them to ask for positions on the waitlist or anything, they also said we'd be put on the bottom of the wait list if we contacted them. That whole interview process was cool, but what they told us in the end kinda made me shy away from the program. Any C's of pending prereqs taken had to be re-taken upon "conditional" acceptance to Marymount. It sounds like they're trying to make their program more competitive.

My cumulative GPA was 3.55, but I think it makes more sense to break it into my undergrad GPA (3.36) and my postbac GPA (4.00). I took the vast majority of my prereqs (50+ credit hours) as a postbac in the last couple of years.

GRE: 168 Verbal, 161 Quant, 4.5 Writing

Hours: 2000+ as an aide at an outpatient ortho clinic. An additional 40-ish shadowing hours spread between SNF, outpatient peds, and school PT.

I have a wide (and weird) variety of work and volunteer/extracurricular experience, including teaching, lots of outdoors stuff, and marketing.

Letters of rec: 2 PTs (one of whom is my supervisor, the other of whom is another PT working at the clinic I work at), exercise physiology prof, and a volunteer supervisor.

Applied: 13 programs! Pacific University, University of Puget Sound, University of Washington, Eastern Washington University, Idaho State University, University of Montana, University of Colorado, Regis University, University of Utah, Rocky Mountain University, University of New Mexico, Northern Arizona University, University of Nevada Las Vegas

Interviewed at: Pacific, CU, Regis, Utah, RMU, UNLV

Declined interview invitations at: UNM, Montana

Rejected: NAU (prob due to my cumulative GPA -- I hear they have a very high GPA cut-off for out-of-state students. Wish I'd known before I applied!)

I went into the process with no idea how competitive my application would or wouldn't be, really intimidated by the acceptance percentages I'd seen, so I hope this info helps someone! I don't think I needed to apply to 13 programs, and boy was the process stressful (I wrote 15 essays!) and expensive. Knowing what I know now, I would definitely have been pickier to begin with. For what it's worth, I don't think I submitted any application more than a couple days before the deadline (deadlines for these programs spanned from 10/2 to 12/15). I've heard folks say applying closer to the deadline can hurt your application, but I did not find that to be true to my experience.

My cumulative GPA was 3.55, but I think it makes more sense to break it into my undergrad GPA (3.36) and my postbac GPA (4.00). I took the vast majority of my prereqs (50+ credit hours) as a postbac in the last couple of years.

GRE: 168 Verbal, 161 Quant, 4.5 Writing

Hours: 2000+ as an aide at an outpatient ortho clinic. An additional 40-ish shadowing hours spread between SNF, outpatient peds, and school PT.

I have a wide (and weird) variety of work and volunteer/extracurricular experience, including teaching, lots of outdoors stuff, and marketing.

Letters of rec: 2 PTs (one of whom is my supervisor, the other of whom is another PT working at the clinic I work at), exercise physiology prof, and a volunteer supervisor.

Applied: 13 programs! Pacific University, University of Puget Sound, University of Washington, Eastern Washington University, Idaho State University, University of Montana, University of Colorado, Regis University, University of Utah, Rocky Mountain University, University of New Mexico, Northern Arizona University, University of Nevada Las Vegas

Interviewed at: Pacific, CU, Regis, Utah, RMU, UNLV

Declined interview invitations at: UNM, Montana

Rejected: NAU (prob due to my cumulative GPA -- I hear they have a very high GPA cut-off for out-of-state students. Wish I'd known before I applied!)

I went into the process with no idea how competitive my application would or wouldn't be, really intimidated by the acceptance percentages I'd seen, so I hope this info helps someone! I don't think I needed to apply to 13 programs, and boy was the process stressful (I wrote 15 essays!) and expensive. Knowing what I know now, I would definitely have been pickier to begin with. For what it's worth, I don't think I submitted any application more than a couple days before the deadline (deadlines for these programs spanned from 10/2 to 12/15). I've heard folks say applying closer to the deadline can hurt your application, but I did not find that to be true to my experience.

I put down a deposit at Pacific! I was strongly considering Regis and CU, but I live in the Portland area and the reasons to leave just aren't strong enough (I love it here, and especially as an older student, I'm happy to continue putting down roots in the region). I haven't officially declined at Regis yet, though (their deadline is the 23rd), just in case I have a major change of heart in the next little bit. The decision-making process has been pretty agonizing, but I've been really thankful to have great options to have to choose between!

Honors: HES Honors student (includes being a research assistant for a clinical research study and writing an honors thesis), Dean's List 4 out of the past 7 semesters with 3 being both semesters of Junior year and this fall

Applied:
Dominican College
Long Island University - Brooklyn Campus
Mercy College
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (Newark/North Campus)
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (Stratford/South)
Seton Hall University
SUNY Downstate

(submitted: 9/1, verified: 9/15)

Recommendation Letters: 3 PT's and a former professor. (4 total)

Acceptances: RUTGERS North!!!! (Top choice school) LIU Brooklyn!

Attending: Rutgers North

Rejections: Rutgers South,

Waitlist: Dominican, Mercy College

I will be foregoing my seat at LIU so hopefully that helps someone out here who is on the LIU waitlist! Loved their program but it's just too far and I want to save money by commuting from home!

Applied:
Dominican College
Long Island University - Brooklyn Campus
Mercy College
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (Newark/North Campus)
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (Stratford/South)
Seton Hall University
SUNY Downstate

(submitted: 9/1, verified: 9/15)

Recommendation Letters: 3 PT's and a former professor. (4 total)

Acceptances: RUTGERS North!!!! (Top choice school) LIU Brooklyn!

Attending: Rutgers North

Rejections: Rutgers South,

Waitlist: Dominican, Mercy College

I will be foregoing my seat at LIU so hopefully that helps someone out here who is on the LIU waitlist! Loved their program but it's just too far and I want to save money by commuting from home!

ACCEPTANCE UPDATE!
University: Washington State University
Major: Kinesiology
Overall GPA: 3.65
Pre-Req GPA: 3.1 – 3.3 depending on the school (retook a class I got a D in and got an A so depends if they replace or average)
GRE: 153 V, 154 Q, 4.0 Writing

ACCEPTANCE UPDATE!
University: Washington State University
Major: Kinesiology
Overall GPA: 3.65
Pre-Req GPA: 3.1 – 3.3 depending on the school (retook a class I got a D in and got an A so depends if they replace or average)
GRE: 153 V, 154 Q, 4.0 Writing

I am just so happy to finally know that I will be going to grad school this summer!! I was extremely worried that my GRE Quant score, along with my PTCAS pre-req GPA, would keep me from being accepted anywhere.

If you're like me and re-took more than one of your pre-reqs at a community college, I definitely suggest looking into programs that do not use PTCAS. Mizzou's system (thankfully) replaced my old grades with my new ones, giving me the 3.92 pre req GPA which helped my application out so much.

I am just so happy to finally know that I will be going to grad school this summer!! I was extremely worried that my GRE Quant score, along with my PTCAS pre-req GPA, would keep me from being accepted anywhere.

If you're like me and re-took more than one of your pre-reqs at a community college, I definitely suggest looking into programs that do not use PTCAS. Mizzou's system (thankfully) replaced my old grades with my new ones, giving me the 3.92 pre req GPA which helped my application out so much.

What is the interview process like at Mizzou? Also how are the facilities? I grew up near columbia and I am planning to apply there next year, but I really haven’t heard much about the interview or the program in general.

They said they would be sending out the last round of acceptances here in late February. I only applied to the Erie campus and was invited to an information session, but it was canceled due to weather and have not heard anything since. I'm getting impatient.

They said they would be sending out the last round of acceptances here in late February. I only applied to the Erie campus and was invited to an information session, but it was canceled due to weather and have not heard anything since. I'm getting impatient.

Applied:
Dominican College
Long Island University - Brooklyn Campus
Mercy College
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (Newark/North Campus)
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (Stratford/South)
Seton Hall University
SUNY Downstate

Not the poster you're referring to, but I applied for mercy during early decision and got accepted by January. One of my coworkers who is currently a second year student told me that some of the applicants who have interviewed would get decisions around April. So don't be too discoursged if you haven't heard back yet!

I had to contact them, called them directly and asked. It's doubtful that there will be movement off the waitlist for Mercy since I also saw that they opened a Mercy FB page of 2021 and it has 32 members enrolled. Crossing my fingers for you!

Applying: Shenandoah University, AT Still University, CSU Northridge, East Tennessee State University, Emory & Henry College, Governors State University, MGHIHP, Regis University, Bellarmine University, South College, Tennessee State University, University of Arkansas Medical Sciences, University of Mary, High Point University, William Carey University, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, University of Saint Augustine San Marcos

Acceptance: AT Still University (10/9), MGH IHP (12/20), USA San Marcos (2/6)

Interview Invites: South College (Waitlisted 9/4), University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (Waitlisted 10/5), AT Still University (Accepted 10/6), Emory and Henry College (received invite on 10/23 for 11/18 interview - Declined), MGH IHP Open House Invitation (received invite on 11/1 for 12/2 - Attending [live stream]), University of Arkansas Medical Sciences (received invite on 11/20 for 12/1 interview - Declined,) Shenandoah University (received invite on 11/21 for 12/15 interview - Declined), Bellarmine University (Received Invite to Interview on 12/14 for 2/9/18 - Declined)

Rejection: Governors State University (11/17), Regis University (12/15), CSU Northridge, East Tennessee State University, Tennessee State University, University of Mary, High Point University, William Carey University